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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27775048">Holly &amp; Ivy</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/DemiCatra/pseuds/DemiCatra'>DemiCatra</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Canon Compliant, F/M, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Holly - Freeform, Ivy - Freeform, Luna Meddles in Everything, Magical Tattoos, Seer Luna Lovegood, Sort Of, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, mostly - Freeform</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 08:01:30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,588</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27775048</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/DemiCatra/pseuds/DemiCatra</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Albus receives a rather unwanted early Christmas gift from his Aunt Luna. But is it as unwanted as he first thinks? AKA: Luna Lovegood meddles in everything and drives Harry Potter round the bend.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Albus Severus Potter/Original Non-Binary Character</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>The Marauders Advent 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Holly &amp; Ivy</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Prompt: Albus Severus Potter + Ivy</p><p>AN: </p><p>Background pairings worth mentioning for comprehension and a tiny bit of world-building for this AU: Ron/Luna, Hermione/Charlie, Ginny/Oliver, Harry/Draco, Fred/Angelina/George. (I couldn’t let Fred die this time. Fred II is Fabian in this fic.) </p><p>Our Lightning-Era heroes mixed and matched a few years after the war when some realized that maybe they had leapt into marriage too soon, but our Next-Gen babies still happened for the purpose of this fic. So it’s a little bit of canon-compliant, a little-bit of EWE. </p><p>Harry is the DADA professor. Malfoy the Potions professor.</p><p>Also of note, Sam is the second child of Remus &amp; Tonks who also lived in this AU. They are a non-binary, genderfae Metamorpmagus who usually appears female and uses they/them or she/her pronouns.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  
</p><p> </p><p>Albus Severus Potter generally liked to think that he was the easy going sort. </p><p>But he really wasn’t sure what to do with the package in front of him. </p><p>He certainly wasn’t going to <em>wear it</em> as his Aunt Luna clearly intended. </p><p>Gingerly, he prodded the multicoloured wrappings with his cherry and dragon heartstring wand and looked up to Scorpius across the Slytherin table with a grimace. Around them, the Great Hall went on with its breakfast, the majority of its occupants ignoring the two Fifth Years.</p><p>“What in the bloody blazes am I supposed to do with <em>this</em>, Scorp?” Albus lifted a crown made of deep green ivy on the end of his wand momentarily before letting it fall back into the abyss of glitter and tissue paper he’d pulled it from.</p><p>Scorpius smirked behind his pumpkin juice. “Why, wear it, of course.”</p><p>“But...it’s a crown. Salazar, it’s made of ivy. It’s an <em>ivy</em> <em>crown</em>, Malfoy.”</p><p>“Don’t you Malfoy me, <em>Potter</em>. You know you’ll catch hell from our dads and Uncle Ron, too, no doubt, if you <em>don</em>’t wear it. You know how protective he gets of his wife.” Scorpius took another bite of his sausage before continuing. “Just wear it, Al.” He gestured to the crown Albus had managed to mostly bury beneath the glitter strewn wrappings; one leaf of ivy was slightly visible. Albus shuddered.</p><p>“Merlin knows what will happen if you don’t. Besides, it’s Yule season. Christmas. Mistletoe, ivy, and holly. Silver, and gold. Tradition and all that rot. Wear the damned crown.” Scorpius smirked. “Sam would certainly see you if you did. They’re a Ravenclaw. Maybe they like ‘em a little less...stuck-up and stuffy.” He gestured up and down Albus’ person with his forkful of egg at this comment.</p><p>“Oh, stuff it, you tosser.” Albus flipped him the two-fingered salute with one hand and banished the ivy crown back to their dorm with the other. He tried valiantly not to blush at the mention of the petite Ravenclaw he’d developed a crush on over the past semester. </p><p>Across the Hall, Albus could see Sam talking to Rose, Fabian, and Roxanne. Albus watched as their face filled with a light of laughter he couldn’t hear across the mass of students between them; their cheeks reddened and their button nose crinkled adorably. They batted at Roxanne’s hands, trying to keep them from placing a festive crown of holly on their head. Fabian reached out and plucked the holly from Roxanne, jamming it onto Sam’s head, cackling. Rose shook her head in fond exasperation. Sam simply rolled their eyes and turned back to their breakfast, the crown now resolutely in place. Their hair shifted from its usual chestnut brown to a deep ebony to offset the red of the berries.</p><p>He sighed heavily and looked back down to his own forgotten breakfast. He poked half-heartedly at the remains of his muffin and downed the rest of his coffee.</p><p>“Meet you in Transfiguration. I’ve to stop off at the library before class for a hold I placed last week when Dad assigned that DADA project.” He tossed the words to Scorpius over his shoulder, knowing full well that the other Slytherin hadn’t heard a word he’d said, too focused once more upon his morning meal.</p><p> </p><hr/><p><br/>Albus knocked on his dad’s office door and stood, waiting in the hall. The last time he’d made the mistake of entering too soon after knocking was decidedly his last. His dad and Professor Malfoy were randier than he was and like bloody teenagers all over again. </p><p>He cringed mentally and wished fervently once more that self-Obliviation were a possibility. Alas, he was doomed to forever remember the sight of his step-father’s pale arse and...nope. That was decidedly more than he was ever allowing himself to remember. Albus shook his head animatedly and readjusted his school bag over his shoulder.</p><p>The only good thing that had come from that encounter was leverage he could use at some point when his dad or Professor Malfoy caught him doing something he really ought not. </p><p>While Albus waited, he caught a glimpse of something glinting on the back of his left-hand. </p><p><em>Again</em>.</p><p>Merlin, he hated glitter. The problem was, every time he tried to spell the glitter away the sprig of ivy that had tattooed itself around his left wrist sometime during Transfiguration would sprout a new vine and twist further up his arm.</p><p>So, Albus grit his teeth and tried to ignore the sparkle.</p><p>He took a moment to examine the marking again while he waited. It stood out against his pale flesh, stark and black. The ivy stretched nearly halfway up his forearm now. It had started off as just a simple, singular strand braceleted around his wrist. He stopped trying to hex it away after it had more than tripled in size. </p><p>The leaves danced in an unseen breeze, almost beautiful...if it weren’t on his skin without provocation. He huffed frustratedly and let his sleeve fall back down to cover his wrist again.</p><p>Finally, his dad opened his office door and stuck his head out into the hall.</p><p>“Yes? Oh! Al, what’re you doing here? Don’t you have a free period now?”</p><p>“Are you alone?”</p><p>“Well...” his father hedged.</p><p>“Professor Malfoy doesn’t count.” Albus said bluntly. He shoved past his father. “If you aren’t decent by now, it’s your own bloody fault and I won’t be--”</p><p>Albus drew up short at the sight of Sam sitting in the chair across from his father’s desk. Their left eyebrow was raised nearly to their hairline.</p><p>“Oh, er. Um. Sam! That is, I mean. Of course you’re decent. You’re always decent.” Oh Merlin he was rambling again. Circe help him. Why couldn’t he shut up? What was wrong with him. His mouth continued without his consent. “I mean, you look good. You always look good. Not that I think you look good. Gods, no! That’s not what I mean at all. What I mean to say is tha—” </p><p>Suddenly, his voice cut off mid-word though his mouth continued to move and spew who knows what interminable rubbish.</p><p>“That was for your own good. Godric, you’re worse than I ever was, Al. And that’s saying something.”</p><p>Apparently his father had hit him with a well-placed <em>Silencio</em>. Al, couldn’t say he was upset by that, really. He closed his eyes briefly and managed to close his mouth. He heaved a deep, silent sigh. And moved to the other chair by Sam.</p><p>They dropped the hand that had risen to cover their mouth while he spewed nonsense, revealing a wide grin. “Hey there, Al. Good to see you.”</p><p>Albus let his mouth quirk into a small smile in reply and turned to his father pointedly.</p><p>His father’s overly green eyes pierced him steadily for a moment before he lifted the spell with a wave of his hand, wandlessly and wordlessly.</p><p>“One of these days, you really need to teach us kids that trick, Dad.”</p><p>His dad didn’t see fit to deign that with a response and merely looked at him questioningly. </p><p>“Ah, right.” Albus glanced sideways at Sam momentarily then pushed up the sleeve on his left arm, shrugging. He twisted his arm around so that his dad could see the ivy better and explained succinctly.</p><p>“It showed up during Transfiguration this morning. Started off just as just one vine around my wrist. Everything I’ve tried, hexes, jinxes, potions, all only makes it grow larger.”</p><p>A small gasp sounded from his right.</p><p>Albus turned to see Sam holding their right arm up for him to see. On their inner wrist was a small bunch of holly.</p><p>“It stays no matter how much I try to morph it away.” Sam breathed softly, barely above a whisper.</p><p>Silently, almost not daring to breathe, Al reached across the space between him and Sam to touch their wrist. Instead of pulling away they reached out to brush the ivy on his arm curiously.</p><p>When they did, Albus felt all breath leave his lungs like a punch to the gut. His heart stuttered momentarily and he felt something realign in his body. There was an odd hooking sensation behind his navel. An indescribable, invisible <em>something</em> stretched across the room towards Sam whose eyes had blown wide, pupils overtaking their currently denim-coloured irises. </p><p>Surprised, Albus jerked away and glanced down to his arm. The vines of ivy had filled in with a deep, emerald green and now encircled his arm up to his elbow. Across the room, Sam’s marking had changed, as well. The holly had spread to stretch the length of the inside of their arm and was now accompanied by branches of laurel. Like his, theirs had filled in with colour and the berries of the holly now stood out a deep crimson red against their caramel coloured skin, the green of the leaves matched his in hue.</p><p>“So, erm, Hogsmeade? Next weekend? It’s supposed to snow, and the village is always beautiful when it does.” Albus managed to clamp his mouth shut before he began to ramble and prayed that Sam would understand his leap in thought. In the depths of his mind he heard a light feminine giggle.</p><p>“Sounds lovely.” Sam smiled and turned to his dad. “You’ll contact us when you know more, then Professor Potter?”</p><p>Behind his desk his dad heaved a great sigh and nodded.</p><p>As they left, he slumped back in his chair and muttered one word, seemingly to himself. </p><p>“Luna.”</p>
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